Recommended Reading: "Behind the Beautiful Forevers"

Katie Patel, one of our sponsors, recently read Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo and recommended it to me. I've started it and think it is really pertinent to the work we are all partnered in. I asked her to write a review for our blog so that we could encourage all our sponsors to read it.

If you want to know  what daily life might be like for your sponsored child, I highly suggest reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.  The book's subtitle is “Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” and that is exactly what you experience when reading this narrative nonfiction. The author spent three years  observing, and interacting with the residents in the Annawadi settlement near the Mumbai airport, getting to know several residents and their stories.

As you read, you are immersed in the daily life of specific Annawadians, while also getting a bigger picture of what life in general looks like for those of lower caste/economic status in India.  You will meet Abdul, who makes a living collecting and reselling garbage; Asha, who aspires to be the political liason between the Annawadians and the big-city politicians; Manju, who will become the slum's first female college graduate; Karam, a Muslim who has plans to purchase his own land and leave the slum.

The book is a great read in general, in terms of getting you close to the characters, and interested in how their stories end. More than that, however, is the way the author shows you what daily life in the slum is like, without making judgements or being condescending toward India and its culture. She paints the picture, and lets the reader make their own judgements as to what, exactly can or should be done to alleviate the poverty and the inequality that the slums reflect.

After reading this book, I felt like I was given a snapshot of what life is probably like for my sponsored  little boy- Akash; the problems he faces day to day, what he might dream of, what his family dynamic might be like. If you are interested in India, and also if you are a child sponsor there, I highly suggest you read this book!